BRC hits back at RAC’s supermarkets’ high fuel price claims

The British Retail Consortium (BRC) has hit back at claims that fuel at supermarkets are charging “far higher prices than they should be” 

BRC retaliate to the claims made by RAC, pointing out that supermarket fuel prices are cheaper than the national average and that they “will do everything they can” to maintain prices that are as low as possible. 

“Retailers understand the cost pressures facing motorists and will do everything they can to continue to offer the best value-for-money across their forecourts, passing on cost reductions as they feed through the supply chain,” reports quoted BRC director of food and sustainability as saying.

Earlier this week, RAC accused the UK’s biggest fuel retailers of refusing to lower their pump prices despite a drop in wholesale costs. 

It said supermarkets’ profit margins are around 15p per litre for petrol and diesel. 

This means customers are being charged an “unnecessarily high” average price of 161.0p per litre for petrol and 184.4p for diesel. This is only 2p per litre lower than the average for all UK forecourts. 

Supermarkets normally charge around 3.5p per litre less than the UK average. 

RAC fuel spokesman Simon Williams said, “With many people struggling to put fuel in their cars, it’s very sad to see the biggest fuel retailers taking advantage of their customers by charging far higher prices than they should be. 

“This is unfortunately a perfect example of prices falling like a feather, the opposite of them rocketing up as soon as the wholesale price rises significantly. 

“The supermarkets dominate UK fuel retailing, primarily because they have traditionally sold petrol and diesel at lower prices due to the large volumes they sell. 

“Sadly, there is now a remarkable lack of competition among the four main players which means prices are far higher than they should be. 

“There are smaller, independent forecourts offering more competitive prices than supermarkets, so drivers should shop around.”